Washington Capitals Practice Notes: Nic Dowd expected to play against Panthers

The Washington Capitals returned to the ice for practice at the Panthers Ice Den in Florida to prepare for their Thursday night tilt with the Panthers. Nic Dowd was a full participant in practice. He’s spent the last week and a half dealing with a lower body injury and missed three of the last four games.

Here is what the lines looked like from Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Sprong
Sheary-McMichael-Lapierre/Leason
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway/Protas

Fehervary-Carlson
TvR-Schultz
Orlov-Jensen

Dowd told the media that he expects to play tomorrow night. He has a goal in six games and has won 59.5 percent of his face off draws. T.J. Oshie is still week to week with a lower body injury and is in the very early stages of recovering. Nicklas Backstrom, who’s been week to week since the start of training camp, continued to skate on his own.

El-Bashir also reported from practice that the team worked on their power play. While it’s improving with four goals in the last three games, the power play overall still ranks 16th in the league at 20.0 percent. So yeah… it needs work.

The Panthers will pose a challenge to the Caps, who already suffered their first regulation loss of the season to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. Florida is 8-0-1 and at the top of The Atlantic Division. They are coming off a loss albeit in the shootout to the Boston Bruins 3-2.

Aleksander Barkov is a player to watch as he leads the team with five goals to go along with five assists for 10 points. Jonathan Huberdeau is another with eight assists, 11 points and three goals.

Expect a roster move to come for the Caps tomorrow if Dowd is indeed activated into the lineup which is likely the case. The Caps take on the Panthers Thursday night at 7 p.m. before they return home Saturday night to host the Philadelphia Flyers.